Philosophy : Human All Too Human A Book for Free Spirits
Nietzsche: Untimely Meditations (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) | 
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The first book of aphorisms
Nietzche is one of the most strikingly original of the great aphorists. An interesting question is why the works of 'aphorisms' seem more appealing than the longer essay - works. Perhaps it is because each aphorism causes one to pause and meditate. And each aphorism like a small poem can be readily committed to memory and made part of one's own internal life.
There is however a downside to the aphoristic in Nietzsche. There is a violence of absolute certainty. This of course makes the work appealing to those who would have their truth whole, but less so to those who would see subtleties of reality. Nietzsche's misogyny is part of his own psychological illness. One understands why he commends those somehow weak and defective as source of a special kind of creativity. His love of the free spirit, the adventurer in mind, who has the courage to continually check and challenge his own assumptions is of course his not so hidden tribute to himself as highest kind of mind of all.
One of the horrible ironies of this individual of individuals was that his work was taken upon by the Nazis and distorted for their own evil ends. One of the most interesting passages in this work is his long paean to the Jewish people for their creative genius.
There is something enjoyable and stimulating about Nietzsche's writing. He moves us to think. He wakes us up. And this without our having to accept the fundaments of his analysis of the human situation.
 My favorite version
This review is for the Stanford University Press (SUP) paperback edition. I really like the SUP edition by Gary Handwerk and consider this review as my vote for it without a detailed justification. I haven't personally compared it to the other translations but from what I heard from other more knowledgeable people this version reads better. I first came across a copy of this book checked out from the Stanford library and loved it so much that I decided to get my own copy. I only wish it came in hard cover.
 Free Spirits
In these short comments and aphorisms, F. Nietzsche asks himself: `Cannot all values be overturned?' And, `Is Good perhaps Evil?' (3)
His answers to these provocative questions are rather boring and don't reach the same level of his biting, polemic, destructive shouting in his later work.
There are exceptions, like `Almost every politician needs an honest man so badly that, like a ravenous wolf, he breaks into a sheep pen: not in order to eat the ram he has stolen, but rather to hide behind its woolly back.' (470) Or, `Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.' (483)
Of course, one can find here the seeds of his later philosophizing with a hammer, but they are rather meager one.
Good and Evil
`In the soul of the ruling clans and castes, the man who has the power to requite goodness with goodness, evil with evil, is called "good". The man who is unpowerful and cannot requite is taken for bad.' (45)
Religion
`Ruling persons and classes will be enlightened about the benefit provided by religion; they are using it as a tool.' The state needs (the priest's) most private, secret education of souls. Without the help of priests no power can become legitimate.' (472)
Christianity
`All psychological inventions of Christianity work toward the deep corruption of head and heart. Christianity wants to destroy, shatter, intoxicate.' (114)
Anti-democratic stance and contempt for the masses
`A higher culture can come into being where there are two castes of society: the caste of forced labor and the caste of free labor.' (439)
And, quoting Voltaire: `Once the populace begins to reason, all is lost.' (438)
`Pithy is nothing less than a disease.' (47)
Power and morality
`This is how the brutal, powerful man acts, the original founder of a state, who subjects to himself those who are weaker. Force precedes morality. (99)
The characteristics of his later works are still absent here: Christ is still the `noblest being', no misogyny and no war worship.
This book is not a good introduction to Nietzsche's work; better are `Genealogy of Morals' or `Beyond Good and Evil'.
Only for Nietzsche fans and scholars.
 What book is this?
This copy of Human All Too Human was 50 pages total and nothing like any other translation. Don't bother with this one, many others are better.
Accessible, provocative writing/philosophy
(My comments on Nietzsche are hardly worth noting; his fame and notoriety, his value as a philosopher and writer, will not be affected by one Amazon reviewer. I intend my review to be a comment on my own sentiments in reaction to the work, and also to reflect on the make of the book itself.)
Nietzsche is fascinating and thought-provoking. This book is a great primer for anyone who eventually intends to tackle some of Nietzsche's more cryptic or "heavy" works. It lays out some of the thoughts he will develop more thoroughly later in his life, and is helpful for finding orientation within his philosophies. As a Christian, I strongly disagree with Nietzsche's opinions about religion, the freedom of the spirit, and so much more,--nevertheless his thoughts here cannot be ignored or easily brushed aside, and his style is so infectious, compelling, and mystifying that I cannot help but be haunted by those thoughts, cannot help but respond and react and expose deeply buried sentiments in myself. Furthermore, in reading Nietzsche's "psychological observations" (what he calls "reflection on the human, all too human") there is much insight gained into many of the prevalent European and American philosophies present today. I may disagree with him on a number of points, but he is clearly a penetrating and insightful beholder of the world whose thoughts have been steeped into our modern or post-modern culture.
(As I wrote above, my like or dislike has no bearing on his indispensable value in the history of philosophy and understanding the present-day philosophies.)
I would recommend Human, All Too Human, especially to someone who cannot commit an intense few weeks of serious study to one of Nietzsche's later works. The observations are arranged in aphoristic style, and there are many different themes throughout the work, making this one of those philosophical texts that can be opened at almost any page and read at leisure. Some of Nietzsche's observations would make more sense with a background in early Kantian philosophers, along with Rousseau, Pascal, and La Rochefoucauld, the Bible, and Greek philosophy and tragedy, and a handful of other works. But if experience here is lacking, most of Human, All Too Human can still be read an enjoyed.
The Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy soft-cover edition is right on par with all of their books. Solid binding, nice white pages, pleasant typeface, clean printing; if the reader likes to pencil in notes, he will find these pages treated very well to make erasing effective and clean. The introduction is weak, but that's to be expected from these editions. Introductions usually should be skipped anyway.
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